Device for teaching music.



No. 788,063. PATENTED APR. 25,1905. M. L. QUINN. DEVICE FOR TEACHINGMUSIC.-

' APPLICATION FILED I'EB. 18.1903.

' 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

IVVVIVH WIIXXXIXHXWXIVl 2 3 4 .5 e 7 8 8/0'112 13/4 15/ 1;;

III

PATENTED APR. 25, 1905. M, L. QUINN.

DEVICE FOR TEACHING MUSIC.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 18,1903.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Q Q QE @Q I a m '9 H 3& em

UNITED STATES Patented April 25, 1905.

PATENT OFFICE.

DEVICE FOR TEACHING MUSIC.

SPECIFICATION o mi g part Of Letters Patent NO. 788,063, dated April 25,1905.

Application filed February 18, 1908. Serial No. 143,962.

To all whom it may concern/.-

Be it known that I, MARCUS L. QUINN,a citizen of the United States, anda resident of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinventeda .Device for Teaching Music, of which the following is aspecification.

I This invention relates to devices for teaching music.

The objects of the invention are to provide a simple device by means ofwhich a person can readily learn the chief and most useful chords of allkeys and may readily be taught the chief chords of all keys related tothe selected key, to provide a device whereby it is possible totranspose into different keys, and to provide a device for teachingharmony exercises, melodies, and simple songs and pieces.

By means of a device of my invention a person having no knowledge ofmusic or of musical notation can quickly and easily learn the chief andmost useful chords of all keys by means of a simple non-technical systemof notation; may readily be taught to produce all kinds of modulationsand transitions; may transpose into any desired key, retaining correctmodulations and transitions; may be taught harmony exercises,accompaniments, scales, and simple songs and pieces.

A device of my invention is of great advantage to a person about to takeup the study of music in order to educate the ear and to develop anintuitive knowledge of the correct correlation of tones and practiceinproducing them on a piano, organ, or other key instrument.

The invention consists of the various features, combinations offeatures, and details of construction hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings a device of my invention is fullyillustrated.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a portion of a piano-keyboard, showinga device of my invention applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a plan view of adevice of my invention. Fig. 3 is an end view thereof, and Figs. 4: and5 are exercises illustrating the manner of using a device of myinvention and also different uses to which it may be put.

Referring now to the drawings,1 designates a strip or plate of suitablematerial, preferably celluloid or the like, adapted to be placed on thekeyboard of a piano, organ, or other instrument, preferably adjacent tothe inner ends thereof. Said plate 1 is preferably only long enough toextend over approximately two and one-half octaves of the keyboard ofthe instrument and is entirely detached therefrom, so that it mayconveniently be moved or placed in different positions on the keyboard.Preferably, also, said plate or strip 1 is secured to a suitablesupport, so that it will be rearwardly inclined to the plane of thekeys, the lower edge of said strip or plate extending to the lower edgeof said support. As shown, said support consists of a triangular piece 3of light wood, as soft pine, the front surface of which is rearwardlyinclined relatively to the base or bottom thereof. If desired, thebottom and rear surfaces of the supporting-block 3 may be covered withfelt or other soft cloth, so that the finish of the instrument will notbe marred thereby.

Formed on the face of the strip or plate 1 are indexes 4:, whichpreferably extend upwardly from the lower edge of said strip or plate.The distance between adjacent indexes is equal to one-twelfth (1-12) ofthe combined width of seven adjacent white keys measured on the keyboardof the instrument, or a multiple thereof, there being indexes todesignate the chief and most useful chords of a selected key and also ofall related keys into which any musical composition may modulate. Thedistances between indexes may vary slightly, though it is preferablethat they be exact, as the best register is thereby secured when thedevice is moved into different positions onthe keyboard, as hereinafterdescribed.

The indexes for the white keys are referred to the narrow portionsthereof between the black keys.

In the preferable form of the device the in strument-kcys of thedifferent chords are indicated byindexes of differentcolors, thekcys ofeach chord being designated by the same color; but my inventioncontemplates any other convenient method of differentiation. 1 It beingimpossible to color the indexes in the drawings, I have made use ofletters to indicate the different chords, the indexes of the keys ofeach chord having the same letter.

As shown, fourteen different chords are represented, which include allof the chief and most useful chords. By means of the chords indicatedall kinds of modulations and transitions may be produced. Obviously,however, it is possible to omit certain of the chords indicated,correspondingly limiting the scope of the device, or, on the other hand,other chords which are used only infrequently may be indicated withoutin any way departing from my invention.

The chords indicated are those known in musical terminology as follows,and each chord is indicated by the letter stated: tonic, a, submediant,L; major supertonic, c; dominant triad in the key of the parallel minor,(Z; subdominant, e; supertonic,f; major triad on the minor second degreeof the scale, 9; dominant, 7L; minor subdominant, 71; major triad on theminor sixth degree of the scale, j; dominant triad in the key of thesupertonic, k; supertonic ninth or diminished seventh, Z; tonic ninth ordiminished seventh, m; dominant ninth or diminished seventh, n.

One of the indexes-as shown, the extreme left-hand index-is marked a anddesignates the key-note or bass note of the tonic chord, and by settingthe strip or plate so that said left-hand index will be over any key ofthe keyboard of the instrument selected as a keynote the indexes willcorrectly indicate chords in that key and in all related keys. Thus bymoving or shifting said strip or plate so that the key-note index willregister with different keys it is possible to transpose into difl'erent keys, as desired.

In setting the device for any key the keynote index a is preferably setso as to register with the center of the key, though slight variationswill not throw the indexes of the other keys out of register.

The correct modulations and transitions of the various chords may betaught by means of suitable exercises by using a simple system ofnotation which will be readily under stood by a person having noknowledge of music or of musical notation.

In practice I prefer to use a simple system of notation, as follows:Each chord is designated by means of a suitable distinctive characterapplied to the bass note thereof. As shown, Roman numerals placeddirectly above the indexes which they respectively designate areemployed. \Vhenever it appears in a chord exercise each Roman numeralsignifies that the chord consisting of the tones produced by theinstrument-keys indicated by the indexes marked the same as the index ofthe bass notes to which said numeral is applied is to be struck. Anydesired succession of chords may thus be indicated by means of anexercise in which the numerals or other characters representing the bassnotes of the desired chords are arranged in a series, each numeral beingrepeated as many times as that chord is to be repeated.

As shown in Fig. 2, the indexes of the bass notes are numberedconsecutively from I to XIV, beginning with the left-hand index, thisbeing what I consider the simplest system of notation.

For the purpose of illustration I have in Fig. 4 of the drawings shown asimple form of exercise. As will be noted, the numerals I and VIIIappear in the following succession: I three times, VIII once, I. twice,VIII once, and I once. This exercise signifies that the chord the bassnote of which is'designated by the numeral I is first to be struck threetimes, followed by the chord the bass note of which is designated byVIII struck once, I. chord twice, VIII chord once, and I. chord once.

By means of proper exercises, which indicate the correct transitions andn'iodulations of any key in which the device is set, the correctmodulations and transitions for any key may soon be learned, so that bymoving or shifting the device into different keys all of the indicatedchords in all of the keys with their correct modulations and transitionscan be learned quickly and easily. The ear of the student will thus beeducated, so that though he may have no knowledge of music or musicalnotation he will recognize different chords and know where to find. themon the keyboard and will also know how to play them, and by then simplylearning the technical names of the different chords and the signaturesdenoting the same he can play any chord desired without reference to myimproved device.

As arranged in the drawings the letter a is applied to theindexesdesignating the instrument-keys of the tonic chord. The device isarranged in Fig. 1 so that this index is on the bass note C of thechord, the higher notes of the chord being designated by the sameindex-letter (1/, these higher notes being E, G, ant C. As thus arrangedthe index-letter Z) designates the bass note 0 of the submediant chord,the higher notes of this chord being also designated by the letter Z).These higher notes of the submediant chord are E, A, ant E. These notesare clearly indicated in Fig. 1 of the drawings by letters; but it willof course be understood that I may indicate them by colors, aspreviously described. \Vhen using colors as index-marks, I prefer toarrange them as the blocks are shown in Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings,the long vertical blocks designating the bass notes of the chords andthe short horizontal blocks designating the higher notes.

From the foregoing it will be readily understood that each of thefourteen chords illustrated consists of one bass note or tone and threetreble tones, each of which is indicated by the same index character orcolor, it being of course understood that as used herein the termcharacter is intended to embrace and include colors as well as lettersor numbers or other symbols.

As the index character a designates the notes of the tonic chord, thedevice must be arranged on the piano-keyboard so that the bass note orkey tone of the desired key is indicated by said index character a, andwhen so arranged the notes of all the other chords are properlyindicated by the other index characters.

It is also very desirable that the bass notes of the chords be indicatedby distinctive notation-symbols and that the treble notes of the chordsbe indicated by another series of notation-symbols in order that asimple system of notation may be used for the purpose of writingexercises. It will be readily understood that where the tones of thechords are indicated by colors some simple system of notation must beadopted in order that exer cises may be written in a practical way. Itis also desirable that the bass notes of the chords be distinguishedfrom the treble notes to facilitate the arranging of the device on thekeyboard.

A beginner in music thus learns music as a child learns to talk,learning to do the thing itself without in the least understanding thereason for or science of that which he is doing, which will follow as alater step and be much more easily and quickly acquired. The systems ofteaching music now in common use are as though a child were taught totalk by first teaching him the rules of grammar, syntax, 620. My system,however, reverses this order, following the natural method firstteaching the pupil to do the thing itself, leaving him to learn thereason for and science of what he does until he is older and more.mature and can more easily understand them.

In its preferable form a device of my invention is made of such lengththat the keys of each chord will be indicated but once and in theirproper positions on the keyboard of the instrument. It is thusimpossible for a person to strike other than the desired keys, whereaswere the different keys designated more than once and in differentoctaves a person would not know which keys or set of keys to strike,with which key to begin, or in what sequence they were to be struck.

The relative positions of the keys indicated is adapted to cover therange of the large proportion of simple music.

A further feature of my improved device consists in providing theindexes of the treble keys with suitable distinctive characters, bymeans of which they may readily be indicated and distinguished both fromeach other and from the bass keys. In practice I use Arabic numerals toindicate the treble notes, the bass notes being indicated by Romannumerals, as before.

Indicating the notes in the manner last described is for the purpose ofproviding a simple non-technical system of notation, which will bereadily understood adapted for use in connection with a device of myinvention for teaching exercises in harmony, scales, melodies, andsimple songs and pieces to beginners.

The device thus embodies two features which are entirely independent ofeach other, excepting that they may be conveniently combined, the Romannumerals or other characters used to designate the bass notes servingthe double purpose of designating the different series of indexesrepresenting the various chords in one system and the bass notes in theother system, the treble notes being indicated by the Arabic numerals,while the chordindexes serve to connect the numerals or other characterswith their proper instrument-keys.

It will be noted that each treble key within the range of the device isnumbered, a dart or arrow being used to connect the numerals not havingcorresponding chord-indexes with their proper keys.

The reason that all of the keys are indicated in one system and not inthe other is that in harmony exercises, melodies, songs, and pieces itmay be necessary to use all of the treble notes, while in playing chordsand accompaniments all of the notes or keys are not used, and those onlyare indicated which are actually used.

As shown in the drawings, the bass-keys are indicated by Roman numerals,being n um bered consecutively from left to right, and the treble keysare indicated by Arabic numerals, being likewise numbered consecutivelyfrom left to right.

For purposes of illustration I have in Fig. 5 of the drawings shown asimple exercise to be used by beginners in connection with my improveddevice in learning pieces and the like. The arrangement of the numeralsin vertical rows indicates that the instrumentkeys designated by thenumerals in each vertical row are to be struck together, the differentseries indicated by each vertical row to be struck consecutively fromleft to right.

The lengths of the notes and their other qualities may be indicated inany suitable or desired manner. This, however, has no connection with mydevice and need not be considered at this time.

I claim- 1. A device for teaching music comprising a strip or baradapted to be placed upon the keyboard of an instrument and havingmarked thereon a series of indexes which are spaced apart a distancesubstantially equal to the distance between the centers of two adjoiningkeys or a multiple of said distance, each index having applied theretoan indicating character, the characters indicating the notes of eachchord being identical with each other and different from all the otherdesignating characters, the bass notes of the chords being indicated byan additional and distinctive symbol, said symbol being different fromall the other symbols on the bar, whereby said bass notes may be readilyidentified.

2. A device for teaching music comprising astrip adapted to be placedupon the keyboard of an instrument and having marked thereon a series ofindexes which register with the keys, each index having applied theretoa note-indicating color, the notes of each chord being indicated by thesame color and the color of the notes of each chord being different fromall the other colors, the bass notes of the chords being indicated by anadditional distinctive notation-symbol.

3. A device for teaching music comprising astrip adapted to be placedupon the keyboard of an instrument and having marked thereon a series ofindexes which are spacedapart a distance equal to the distance betweenthe centers of two adjoining keys, or a multiple of said distance, eachindex having applied thereto a note-indicating color, the notes of eachchord being indicated by the same color and the color of the notes ofeach chord being different from all the other colors, the bass notes ofthe chords being indicated by colorspots of one shape and the treblenotes by color-spots of a different shape, the bass notes of the chordsbeing indicated by an additional distinctive notation-symbol.

4. A device for teaching music comprising a strip or bar adapted to beplaced upon the keyboard of an instrument and having marked thereon aseries of indexes which register with the keys, each index havingapplied thereto an indicating character, the characters indi cating thenotes of each chord being identical with each other and different fromall the other designating characters, and a notation character appliedto each index.

5. A device for teaching music comprising a plurality of indexes spacedto register with the keys of an instrument, the instrument-keys of eachchord being indicated by similar indexes differentiated from the indexesdenoting the instrument-keys of allof the other chords represented, adistinctive character to designate each series of similar indexesapplied to the bass note thereof, and a distinctive designatingcharacter applied to each treble note and differentiated from thechord-indexes applied to said treble notes, substantially as described.

6. A device for teaching music comprising a plurality of colored indexesadapted to register with the keys of an instrument, the keys of eachchord being indicated by indexes of the same color and the differentchords being indicated by indexes of difierent colors, and a distinctivenotation character to designate each series of indexes of the same colorand applied to the bass notes of the chords.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I aifix mysignature, in presence of two subscribing witnesses, this 31st day ofDecember, A. D. 1902.

MARCUS L. QUINN.

I/Vitnesses:

M. S. SOMERVILLE, HARRY R. L. WHITE.

